A Study On The Sin Of Prometheus

This article explores the sin of Prometheus.The sin of Prometheus is actually composed of stealing fire,enlightenment and blasphemy.Stealing fire is a “mistake” to human beings,and it's a bigger “mistake” to enlighten human beings by teaching them skills,then there is another “mistake” of blasphemy out of arrogance.The mixture of all of these “mistakes” eventually becomes an irreversible “sin”.At the same time,behind the sin of Prometheus hiding the Zeus' s strategy.This is a “sin” presupposed jointly by Zeus and Prometheus,the purpose of which is to establish a new order of Zeus.The sin of Prometheus assists Zeus to get rid of the chains of “fate”,forming a mechanism of “guilt” which can operate automatically on human and help human recognize themselves.It symbolizes the order of Zeus to some extent,and reflects Aeschylus' s imagination of the ideal social governance model.Besides the introduction and conclusion,the thesis is divided into three chapters:The first chapter is “Sin: from stealing fire to blasphemy”.Through the meticulous reading of the tragic text,this thesis sorts out the core components of “sin” from the intricate reasons of criminals being punished.From stealing fire,enlightenment to blasphemy,the degree of “mistake” and the property of sin are gradually deepened,forming an inherent chain.The thesis points out that the sin of Prometheus is actually a unity composed by the appearance of “mistake” and the essence of “sin”.The second chapter is “presupposed sin”.On the basis of clarifying the sins of Prometheus,the thesis further traces back to Hesiod's mythology,makes a judgement that Prometheus' s crime was roughly in the Silver Age or the Bronze Age.By the comparison of the myths of Hesiod and the myths in the tragedy,the two most symbolic stories of Prometheus are analyzed in detail: dividing cattle at Mekone and thieving the fire.After discussing the relationship of identity between Prometheus and Zeus from the angles of Prometheus protecting human and Zeus' s schemes,a conclusion that the sin of Prometheus is a”presupposition” colluded by Zeus and Prometheus comes out.The third chapter is “the symbol of sin and the tragic meaning”.Under the premise of acknowledging that Prometheus' s sin is “presupposed”,through the preliminary investigation of “sin” and its punishment in ancient Greek society,ancient Greece's disposal towards “sin” generally adopted the form of court trial and voting.The existing tragedies of Aeschylus all involves the issue of “sin”.The sin of Prometheus occurred the earliest,and the punishment from Zeus clearly reflected the abidance of “Erinyes rule”,which means a jungle way.The thesis indicates that this rule is the “fate”in the tragedy,then combines with the text of tragedy and analyzes the relationship between “fate”,“marriage” and “strategy”,also elaborates the meaning of Zeus' s schemes and the “presupposition” of Prometheus' s sin.Through a series of interlocking analysis,the thesis found that Aeschylus might conceive a mechanism for “sin” to operate automatically in the tragedy.This mechanism is a kind of “guilt”,promoting people to “recognize themselves”.The mechanism also provides an ideal social governance model for society.Under the operation of this mechanism,“sin” not only symbolizes a new order of Zeus,but also extends the meaning of tragedy.